Cracked Laptop Screen - Headache or Opportunity?

 I opened up the lid on my laptop computer, planning to get some work done. I was quite disturbed to find the picture at the left on my screen. No matter what I did, nothing else happened.I thought the problem might be a weird virus or a failed video driver.

At the time, Rachel and I were on a ferry trip between our island and the next one to visit some co-workers. When we arrived, I showed the screen to my friend and she immediately saw the problem. The screen was cracked. I have a pretty good idea how it happened. Rachel probably leaned on the cover when she stood up from the mat where we were sitting on the ferry. 

I checked into getting the screen repaired. It can be done, but I am told (by someone who wasn't trying to sell me something) that with the old model I have, if this happened in America, I would probably be advised to give up on this machine and get a new one.

Argh! Just what I DIDN'T need. Having to buy a new computer. Unfortunately, in this day and age, computer access is almost a necessity...especially if writing is a part of what a person does. So, I bit the bullet and got a new one.

Now, I have the frustrating task of re-installing all the software I had installed, and restoring all my backed-up files. The last time I had to restore these files from my online back-up, it took four or five months. (Yes, I did say MONTHS, not days or weeks.) I have a lot of data, an my connection here is S---L---O---W. At least, it is slow compared to connections in the States.

This isn't how I planned to be spending my time this week. There is a lot of work to do, and this mishap is certainly slowing things down.

• I need to research some possible locations for a youth camp in June. Some of my prior research is on the other computer...the one I can't get into right now.
• I need to contact several people via email, but their addresses are all in a file that is yet to be restored to the new computer.
• I have some church secretarial tasks to complete which, by the way, require a computer.
• I need to send out a newsletter. It is written and ready to go, but where is it? On the broken laptop, of course.
• I have a kids' ebook that I want to publish on Amazon within the next couple days. I fortunately had saved the manuscript on a flash drive, but the program I was using to create the cover is... you guessed it...on the broken computer.

I could fuss about the inconvenience and waste a lot of energy moaning about everything being harder than it needed to be. OR, I could choose to trust that my Heavenly Father has a way for me through this mess. I can complain that the laptop doesn't work like a laptop anymore. OR I can be thankful that if I can locate an unused desktop monitor, I can still access my important data and programs using the broken machine as a CPU. 

You know what? I think it just might be better to be thankful. First of all, I can be thankful that I actually was able to buy a new laptop. God provides. Tomorrow, I'll check at the children's home where I work to see if, among all their donated equipment, there is a working monitor that doesn't, for now, have a CPU to go with it. If I can borrow that until everything is restored to my new laptop, I can then donate my old machine to the home and voila! They will have an extra station for the kids to work at in the computer lab. 

I had my plans, but just maybe God has plans to use this mishap to bring about something good. I just need to keep looking for it, and be content as I wait, and be ready to rejoice when I see it happen.

“For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the Lord.

 Isaiah 55:8